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EPA – call for non-signatory states to sign to preserve integration

Ministers of Trade from the Member States of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) met at the end of September 2017 in Cotonou in Benin, under the initiative of the WAEMU Commission, for their annual meeting to discuss the evolution of the main dossiers relating to the implementation of the Union’s trade policy. In their final declaration, the Trade Ministers of the Member States of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) called on the three countries still to sign to do so in order to preserve the gains of integration in West Africa. The latter took note of the efforts made by the Commissions of ECOWAS and WAEMU to ensure that all the States sign the EPA. In this respect, the Ministers recommended that both Commissions intensify their political efforts for the full signing of the EPA, but also to pay attention to the ongoing Brexit negotiations between the European Union and the United Kingdom, and their impact on the EPA negotiations in West Africa.